Ended up writing this a while ago, debated on whether or not to post it. Was really struck by Rae's comic that she posted a while back, featuring her faerie toon, Bones. Dunno if I'll go much further with this idea but I'm happy with it so far.
Bones is the property of a-rae-of-sunshine on Tumblr, Tagger is mine.
Color:
It had been a while since the old man had last visited. Bones had stayed down at the bottom of the lake for what felt like days, but eventually the aquatic faerie had needed to eat. Even still, they didn't leave the depths of the lake for long, wanting to be near those treasures as though it would somehow bring back the happier times of talks that ran until the sun was low in the sky.
The first sign of a new visitor started small, a faint tremor rippling from the circle that kept them in the lake. At first, Bones wasn't sure what it meant. Swimming upward in languid circles, they caught sight of a shape sitting at the end of their pier. A rather tall, oddly shifting shape that stoked a sense of wariness and unease. But still, this was their circle, and someone was very deliberately in it. They had to see who it was.
But, Bones didn't want to meet this visitor directly yet. So, instead they skirted up next to the pier, and poked their head out of the water.
What they saw was enough to make them immediately go back under. Too big, too many eyes, colors so bright they hurt to look at, it was all enough to make Bones dive as far down as they could go, heart pounding in their chest as they sought to escape whatever that was.
Frightened as they were they still turned, looking back just to be sure that the strange creature hadn't somehow leapt down after them. The creature itself hadn't come into the water, but there was a droplet of something that caught Bones's eye, made them pause. A bright bit of blue that stood out against neutral gray.
The sight of it somehow caused the fear to ebb away, Bones watching as the blue sank deeper and deeper, turning into a small cloud in the water. It came down to about where the faerie was, curiosity keeping them from swimming away and instead enticing them closer. Though the liquids didn't exactly mix, there was a strange sense of something pervading through the water, Bones finding themselves reaching out to the small blue patch.
…Why did it feel so sad?
Their fingers touched the cloud, and immediately a sense of quiet misery and loneliness arose in their mind. A frustrated anger that turned inward and brought tears to Bones's eyes, the faerie looking up at the shifting, darkened image of the figure, still sitting on the dock.
Was the figure sad? Something that big and strange could be…lonely?
The sight of the figure shifting around made Bones swim cautiously back up, the faerie noticing a strange sort of reciprocity in the figure's emotions, and unwilling to let it go. It definitely helped that the figure had covered up some by the time Bones got back to the surface, the bright colors and bigness diminished underneath what looked like a grey robe, or clothes? Strangely enough the outfit seemed to shift between both, in a way that was more subtly odd than overpoweringly so.
It was such a startling contrast that for a moment the faerie simply treaded water, trying to equate what they sort of remembered from before with this new, vastly different image.
It made Bones completely unprepared when the figure actually spoke to them, voice somehow sounding normal despite also coming from a good ways away and being perfectly understandable to the faerie's ears.
"Hey, sorry about the mess. Guessin' this is your lake?"
Bones wasn't too proud to say that they jumped at first; honestly, if anyone had seen what they'd seen, they might very well have done the same when faced with the prospect of such a strange being talking to them. But, the memory of that sadness, that feeling of frustrated aloneness, made them swim a little closer.
"Is Bones's lake. No one here but Bones."
Nice t'meetcha, Bones. Name's Tagger." The faerie might not have been very versed in conversation, but even they could see the equally odd contrast between the sort-of casualness 'Tagger' was putting on and the emotions they'd sensed in the blue. It made them swim a little closer, wondering why the figure was hiding that they were so downhearted.
"Tagger sad?"
"Oh…you picked up on that, huh?" Tagger's voice did turn a little sheepish, shoulders rolling inward before something seemed to occur to him and he straightened back up. "Actually, might wanna come over here, probably need t'take that color back. Y'don't want too much of me on you, it'll do things."
"Bones have Tagger's color?" Even as they asked the question Bones couldn't help looking, both a little surprised and bemused at the sight of a smear of blue on their palm. Holding it under water didn't do anything to get rid of it, and rubbing at it barely left a mark either. Movement from Tagger made Bones look up, the faerie's worry fleeing a little as the figure held out his hand, palm up to them.
"Eh, doesn't look like much, but let's not take any chances, alright?" It had the same calm, easy tone, no sign of malice or any sort of ill will. With a lack of anything else to do, Bones held up their hand, letting Tagger carefully press his own hand to their palm. The color withdrew easily enough, Bones's hand left clean and unblemished. But it didn't erase the memory of what they'd felt when first touching the bright blue.
"Why Tagger sad?"
It was a simple question, but it seemed to make those glaringly colored eyes dim as Tagger seemed to digest it before dragging out a more explanatory answer.
"…Just had a bit of a rough meetin' with the family, is all. Not all of it was bad, but there are some of 'em who on a good day just…really get on my nerves. On a bad day…" Tagger trailed off, though the meaning was clear enough. It didn't seem like Tagger wanted to think on it too deeply, or really talk about it given that he quickly changed the subject. "It's…okay, though. I gotta home, got people I like waiting for me. Just didn't wanna turn up a complete mess, y'know?"
"…Bones doesn't know." They had to admit it, simply because they had nothing else to say. A faint movement from Tagger had Bones glancing up, a little anxiously but the figure had nothing malicious in mind. He only seemed to consider them a moment before turning his gaze to the lake at large, glowing eyes sweeping over the placid surface.
"'Cause no one's here but Bones, right?"
Bones didn't answer, at least not verbally, but they did sink a little lower in the water, eyes glancing away as they realized the answer was both a yes and a no. They hadn't had anyone, and they didn't realize just how lonely they were until the old man came into their life, and seemingly left just as quickly. Unbeknownst to them, Tagger could see and read into the whole display, gaze turning mulishly towards the water before an idea occurred to him and he sprung upright.
"I got it!"
The shout echoed across the water, Bones yanking themselves down before it occurred to them that Tagger was just being loud and they popped back up. Thankfully, it was just in time to hear Tagger's next words.
"What if you didn't have to be here? What if you could leave? Just go, go wherever you wanna go with no ties! Not a one! I could help you with that, I've done it before, just-"
It then struck Tagger that the other party to this conversation, instead of looking elated, was looking more and more panicked by the notion, to the point where Bones ducked back under the water. When it became clear that they weren't just going to pop back up, he stuck his head under and called.
"'Course, this is just strategizing on my part! You don't have to do anything you don't wanna do!"
A faint rippling in the water drew Tagger's eyes to the underside of the dock, where Bones was huddled and staring. In more of an effort to break the tension, Tagger waved, creating brief whorls of yellow and green that he pulled back into his hand before pointing back up to the surface. It took Bones a few more moments to follow Tagger as he pulled back up and sat calmly on the dock, but the figure was content to wait.
"You heard what I said earlier, right? About not having to do anything you don't wanna do?"
Bones gave a small nod, eyes wide with an emotion that they couldn't even fully name as Tagger went on.
"Well, exactly that. If you don't wanna pack up an' go, then we don't gotta do that. So no need to run away from me, alright? I'm not gonna make you do anything, Bones. If anything though, a day trip every now and then might be good for you. You ever see the ocean?"
"No. What is the ocean?"
"It's like this lake, but big. Big an' full of so many things. Tiny little critters to whales that would fill up your whole lake. An' it's colorful too! Lotsa colors, loud ones, quiet ones, the works!"
"Colors can be…loud?"
"Oh, mine definitely are. Yours're more quiet. But like I said, all of that is down there! We could see it, make a day trip of it if you like, Bones! An' then we come right back here, safe an' sound. Doesn't have to be now, but maybe some point later?"
The idea of leaving the lake still felt like something more than a little insurmountable, though it being brought up as a question rather than a certainty did help Bones relax just enough that they could give the notion a quiet nod and a 'maybe'.
"I'll take that," Tagger replied, a flickering smile provoking a reciprocating one in Bones. The minutes wore into hours, Tagger going on and on about the different things he'd seen, from the ocean to mountains which he said were tall enough to touch the clouds. Bones couldn't help growing enraptured, occasionally asking questions, but watching with awe as Tagger created images with his bright colors that hung in the air. Simplified peaks, forests, and places called towns danced between his fingers, the time spinning away until the moon had almost disappeared over the far horizon. There was a faint bit of tiredness itching at Bones's eyes, though Tagger hardly seemed affected. He did, however, look up at the moon with a start.
"Oh, stars, I've gotta get goin'. It was nice meetin' you, Bones!"
Tagger was up before Bones could blink, turning to the end of the dock with a quickness that caused the faerie to start. The sound of water splashing did get Tagger's attention, bright neon eyes turning to look back at where Bones was.
"Tagger, Tagger leaving?" The faerie hadn't meant their voice to sound so small, but the thought of being alone again dampened their earlier enthusiasm, leaving them feeling cold.
"Yeah, gotta go for now, Bones. Got folks who're gonna be missin' me. But, I'll tell you what," Tagger said, voice pitched a little softer as he came back to kneel next to the faerie. Realizing that there was something important Tagger wanted to say, Bones leaned in to listen.
"Y'see the moon up there?"
"Bones sees."
"When it's full again, I'll be back. On my word, I will be back in one month. Here, we'll even shake on it." A hand was proffered for Bones, the faerie considering it before reaching up to shake, a smile beginning to drift onto their face. Though there was still that thought, that one errant bit of worry that declared that Tagger wasn't going to be able to honor his word.
But there was something in the handshake, something ironclad, that bolstered Bones's nerves. It didn't keep their smile from falling as Tagger pulled away, waving as he walked down the dock and away into the fading night. Though it didn't feel good to admit, the only thing Bones really could do was wait.
They waited, and watched, peeking up through the water as they tracked the moon's progress across the sky, watched as it shrank and then began to grow.
And, finally, a silvery orb rose in the sky as it darkened, glowing so strongly that Bones found themselves a little transfixed by the sight. But there was that thought niggling in the back of their mind, that this was the night. It had to be.
Tagger was coming back, right?
With how bright the moon had lit up the night, it wasn't hard to see the flickers of someone approaching, the figure's path into the circle causing something to internally twang at the back of Bones's mind. Even still, they couldn't help but give in to a blossoming, wide smile that stretched at their face, tail swishing happily through the water behind them. And, as the figure walked onto the dock, a familiar voice called out to the faerie, accompanied by a wave.
"Hey there, Bones! How's it goin'?"